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A review by poisonenvy
Silverthorn by Raymond E. Feist
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
The worst thing about this book is that it shows what a muddled mess Magician was. It turns out that Raymond E. Feist actually can tell a pretty good story, with flow and cohesion, if he just follows one storyline from beginning to the end instead of jumping all over the place with 100 things happening to half a dozen characters all at the same time.
Arutha might have been one of my least favourite characters in the first book, but I enjoyed following him on his quest in this book. Jimmy the Hand was a delightful character, and I was glad to have him take the spotlight in this book; he was in the first book, very briefly, but his role has really solidified.
Raymond E. Feist still isn't as good with character work and with character depth as some of my favourite authors (it's especially glaring since I'm currently mid-reread for Realm of the Elderlings, which has some of the best character work I've ever seen), but it's definitely improved in this book, even if the female characters are still.... really not great. It no longer felt like characters were being dragged around by their ear by the plot. Instead, they made decisions and had choices, which I appreciated. Sometimes I felt like some things were just... too easy for them? Which was a major issue in Magician. And sometimes Feist wanted something to happen so he made it happen in the most nonsensical way possible (looking at Jimmy's injury later in the book), but that was also improved muchly from the first book.
"Wow, so, all your praises are like, things that people should just expect in a book" you might say. But I enjoyed this book even still. I can't say what, exactly, I've been enjoying about these books. They seem to be pretty standard fantasy fare (or, at least, what we'd consider standard fantasy fare nowadays, though I know when they were published this sort of fantasy wasn't really a thing), but they're fun and enjoyable and I'm looking forward to continuing on with the trilogy.
Arutha might have been one of my least favourite characters in the first book, but I enjoyed following him on his quest in this book. Jimmy the Hand was a delightful character, and I was glad to have him take the spotlight in this book; he was in the first book, very briefly, but his role has really solidified.
Raymond E. Feist still isn't as good with character work and with character depth as some of my favourite authors (it's especially glaring since I'm currently mid-reread for Realm of the Elderlings, which has some of the best character work I've ever seen), but it's definitely improved in this book, even if the female characters are still.... really not great. It no longer felt like characters were being dragged around by their ear by the plot. Instead, they made decisions and had choices, which I appreciated. Sometimes I felt like some things were just... too easy for them? Which was a major issue in Magician. And sometimes Feist wanted something to happen so he made it happen in the most nonsensical way possible (looking at Jimmy's injury later in the book), but that was also improved muchly from the first book.
"Wow, so, all your praises are like, things that people should just expect in a book" you might say. But I enjoyed this book even still. I can't say what, exactly, I've been enjoying about these books. They seem to be pretty standard fantasy fare (or, at least, what we'd consider standard fantasy fare nowadays, though I know when they were published this sort of fantasy wasn't really a thing), but they're fun and enjoyable and I'm looking forward to continuing on with the trilogy.